History and background of Ungaro

Born into an Italian tailor family in Aix-en-Provence, Emanuel Ungaro was able to find his freedom over thirty years ago when he rose to the challenge of creating his own Fashion House.

Today, the man who, at the start of his career, was labeled the “maverick fashion designer”, still free of constraints but subject to his passions, has become a figure of reference in the fashion world.

This complete fashion designer, as discreet as ever, continues to impose his new designs on each season, has anticipated trends for three decades, embellishes everyday garments and reminds women that they are the joy of every man.

Everything started when his father, a tailor from southern Italy, discovered the South of France, moved there with his family and opened shop in Aix-en-Provence.

From the age of 5, Emanuel, the second of 6 children, played with the sewing machine, the whole family’s work tool.

This provincial life provided him later with the key to his future trade and introduced him to a lifestyle embracing painting and music that has followed him throughout his life.

Bolstered by his exceptional creative talent, Emanuel moved to Paris at the age of 22 and started his apprenticeship alongside the Spanish designer, Cristobal Balenciaga.

In the Workshops of the man whom he admires as his Master, he realized the perilous difficulty of this profession and obtained real recognition for his work. This period taught him rigor, perfection, and the eternal search for an ideal in the silence required by the demanding generous Master.

This period also saw the birth of a secret man, tormented by his strong personality, torn between his constant, sensual and bold creativity and his need for austerity and solitude.

How could he control his exuberant creation, his love of women and enhanced sensuality and live in the silence and concentration imposed by the pursuit of his art?

Emanuel Ungaro searched for and found his style with mixes of printed patterns, bold and contrasting colors, exceptional draped effects suggesting femininity inspired by the cheerful streets of Aix-en-Provence, the sun and light accent of the South.

In 1965, his first Collection presented at Avenue Mac-Mahon met with considerable success and already, in 1967, he was able to move his workshops to Avenue Montagine where his House now occupies three floors of the same superb building. His clients discovered this contrast between passion and reason. Emanuel Ungaro acquired international repute for his color combination and unexpected motifs, the purity of his silhouettes and the insolence of details.

Since 1997, Emanuel Ungaro has discovered in the family of Salvatore Ferragamo, the famous Italian leather manufacturer, sharing a similar philosophy to his own and together they have nurtured the project to diversity the Ungaro style already present in Europe, United States, and Asia. Ungaro is now well known for his high quality perfumes and colognes as well.

Emanuel in his own words:

The designer is there to pre-empt an élan, guess the future in desire. I should not have to talk about it. My dresses speak for themselves.

If I had to define my fashion or my way of creating, I would say that it is essentially sensual. In all senses of the word. And for all senses…